Rescue! Black Cat Catalina PBY5A

Flaps cut out to bring some more life into this bird. 

Quickboost engines further improved with push rods from steel 

Here the engine is painted, washed and with its ignition cables added 

I want to depict one blister bubble open. Time for my saw. 

As quite a bit of the interior of this compartment will be seen, some further detailling was needed. 

No 1:72 scale project without maschine guns from Miniworld. 

The rough layout of the intented scene. 

And a close up 

Back to the details. Forward bulk wall of the maschine gun compartment with ammo feeds for the guns and jump seats for the gunners 

fire extinguisher and toilet.  

Finally some color on 

Machine gun compartment 

Cockpit section 

landing lights. The housing was cut out, the side and rear walls built up with sheet and the lights fashioned. 

The result 

The engines found their way into the cowlings. With both parts from Quickboost fit was disappointing and assembly required a bit of work. 

Test fit. The two halfes go together quite easy. 

For a rescue scene you need pilots. I chose P.J. Productions Navy Pilots of WWII 

The interior color appeared rather yellowish when compared with reference material. I heard that zinc chromate was mixed with black to create interior green. So that's what I did too. I like the shade of the color now much better. The wheel wells were kept in zinc chromate. The bulkhead is sprayed interior green. 

The photo etched seats lack cushions. Those are needed so that the pilots will be able to look out of the window and reach the pedals. I will fashion them from sheet and Milliput. 

I discarded the kits MGs (the grey part). Using Miniworlds barrels and some photo etch I constructed the machine guns and build a support for them. That should be the last detailing step for the interior.  

Having used zinc chromate as interior color I figured too late that the upper part of the cockpit and thus the inside of the glass part was black. So I scraped the paint off again to redo it. 

Now done as I think should be correct 

Some detail painting started 

 

Things are coming together. Testfit of the rear compartments interior  

Pilots are almost done. I used the pic in the background to choose colors 

As the wing tip pontons will be shown in lowered position, the wing tip will be exposed. So I detailed it a bit 

The rails at the bow of the kit are simplified. I cut them out and fitted the missing anchoring points 

I hoped to close the fuselage by yesterday, but that was not to be. But pilots are in place with seatbelts fastened 

Some detail painting, decals, weathering, dry fitting.  

Finally. The fuselage is closed. Fit was pretty good. 

The blister canopy compartment after weathering and dusting with everything except the machine guns in place. 

Starboard side 

Rear bulkhead.  

Does not really make sense to show the ailerons deflected and to leave the rudder straight, does it? Only should have done that before glueing the fuselage halves together. This way it was quite a pain. And one which is not over yet. 

Prepwork. Some filling and sanding. The rear contact areas of the canopy need to be lifted slightly to achieve good alignment.
The wing sits too deep on the central strut. I elevated it by about 0.7mm. Hope I do not have to pay for this when attaching the small support struts. 

Progress was rather slow. The tail required quite a bit of modifications to position the rudder deflected.  

The rudder itself needed some attention too. Trimming was added. 

The wings have been declared ready, were cleaned, primed, sanded and received a coat of Dull and regular Aluminum from Alclad. Next will be varnish, chipping fluid and zinc chromate. 

The fuselage needs some more sanding. After a million times of dry fitting I hope that the canopy will align smoothly. I am eager to start with the paint job. 

I needed some coarser work for a change. So I shaped the base for the - not so little - vignette. 

 

 

The tail really gave me a hard time.  

Now I consider it done. Let's see how it looks with the primer on. 

Fit of the canopy is now ok as well. 

After some fillingsandingfillingsandind she should be ready for primer now. 

The areas where I want to depict wear received a coat of zinc chromate. Next will be chipping fluid and medium sea grey then. 

Well, and light grey for the lower parts. Here after a bit of chipping. The light grey I mixed from flat white and H317 grey from Mr. HobbyColor. In the pic it appears lighter than in reality. 

Primer finally. Unfortunately some more touch ups are needed.  

According to my research the black cat Catalinas received their black paint on top of the standard Navy scheme. So I spent a couple of hours to delf into that with the help of the vast internet, books and friends who know a bit about this stuff. Fortified with all this knowledge I was finally able to tackle that issue methodologically. Now: Look and Listen! An appropriate amount of grey (Mr. HobbyColor No. 308) was lighted with some white untill it felt right. Then some cobalt blue went into this mixture until I liked it. And on with it onto the top surfaces of the wing. Highlighting some panels, lowlighting some others and splattering the whole surface with the help of an AK splatter mask. This section gives an idea of where I got with that. 

I had a hard time with chipping with water and a stiff brush only. It took ages to achieve a bit of paint wear. 

Then I remembered Windex and my tooth brush. Now things sped up.  

But it is a thin line between intended wear and ruin. I am happy that everything will be covered with black again and that I will be able to have a second chance on some areas.  

Still, I am quite happy with the overall result and look forward to apply my new expertise on the fuselage. 

Final result 

The fuselage needed some more touch ups. But now the metal coat is on. 

Don't know why, but here I have some orange peel that has to be adressed 

Another step with the dio. Wrapped the foamboard in cardboard. Next step will be filling the gaps, trimming, sanding, varnish and priming. 

After chipping fluid zinc chromate followed, then heavy chipping. 

 

Here wear on the floats and their supports after a light grey coat (ANA602) 

The underbelly. Sealed with a coat of varnish after chipping.  

Similar procedure on the fuselage as on the wings. 

 

And that is where I am now 

Now all figures are build. As the Catalina crews were Navy personnel too, I assume that they were similar uniforms as their comrades on ships. So I felt free to decommission two privates from an USS Gato class boat to my Catalina where they help the ditched pilot on board.